What Happens Next
by whirrledpeas
Summary: Originally titled 'Season Two.' What I would write next. What happened in the courtyard ends a little different in this, so pay attention. :) Vauseman-heavy with mentions of main cast and crossovers introuduced later. Rated M for later content. Thanks for reading!
1. Suzanne's Secret

"And now, I think it's time for you to die." Doggett repositioned her make-shift jesus weapon in the both of her hands, contemplating her next move.

"Tiffany, you don't need to do this." Piper tried to reason with the girl in front of her. "We can settle this a different way. We can fight like prisoners fight, with our hands out and people watching, rooting for us or something. You know, like how they do it in the movies."

"This ain't Hollywood, Satan. This is God giving me the tools to do his job. He told me to kill you and now, you're at my mercy." She kicked the blonde to the ground. "Any last words, devil?"

Piper wanted to fight back and she knew that she had it in her. She was angry and mad and heartbroken. The blonde had lost the only two people she had ever loved within hours of one another. She had nothing left to lose at this point and for a moment, just a split moment, Piper could imagine herself getting up and beating the living shit out of the girl in front of her. But she just wasn't that person and if she did, she knew it would change her forever - in a way from which she could never come back.

Doggett hovered over her with the wooden shiv still in her hands, her face donned with the craziest look Piper had ever seen. The blonde shimmied backwards with her feet and hands, trying to back up from Tiffany as quickly as she could. Within seconds, Piper found herself cornered at the edge of the prison gates with no where to go. She tried pleading one last time. "Do you really think God would condone you killing someone, Tiffany?"

Doggett smirked. "Bitch, he SENT me here to kill you. I hear him, every day. I see things, you know. And yeah, he sent me here to do his glorious work. And so I will."

Piper saw the cross coming down to her leg. _Stab_. Doggett pulled up and the blonde cried out as she leaned in again for her stomach. _Stab_. And the last thing Piper muttered, in between her screams and the stabs - her last words before the shiv was slammed into her chest was, "Alex..."

The pageant was over and most of the inmates had undressed from their costumes, showered, and were moseying about before 'lights out.' Black Cindy and Poussey were in Taystee's bunk re-singing their number from the show for the rest of the dorm when Suzanne walked into the entrance. Her head was hung low and her eyes were aimlessly moving around and focused on the ground in front of her. She finally made an eye contact with whom she came to see.

Sensing this impromptu visit was important, Taystee nodded to her two friends. "Gimme a minute, ya'll." Poussey and Black Cindy left with question on their faces, but quickly at Taystee's request. Suzanne looked over both sides of her shoulder nervously as they exited.

"What is it, girl?" Taystee asked. Suzanne came further into the bunk, caustiously but with intent. She fiddled with her hands and shook her head.

"What is it, girl?"

Suzanne started crying. Taystee knew this bitch never cried. Something was up. She took Sue's arm to sit her down on the bed but the other girl backed up a bit before she spoke. "Dandelion is your bunk mate, right?"

"Who da fuck is Dandelion?" Taystee started picking her hair with her comb.

Sue shook her head as her eyes darted everywhere. "Chapman, I mean Chapman. She here, right?"

"She sleep here girl, but she's not back yet. Probably in the shower, she still got a few minutes - wait, you ain't come here to piss all over the place again have you? I'm not down with late-night showers, yo. So you can go on back to your-"

Suzanne cut her off. "No," She leaned in closer to Taystee and looked at the floor as she spoke. "You gotta get a message to her girl."

"Chapman ain't got no girl. Ain't you heard? Whitey picked her man, getting married and shit. Rocker lezzie wants nothing to do with her."

"Dandelion ain't in a good way. Angel got her outside. I seen it all," Sue's eyes were still darting back and forth on the ground. "I seen it all, it was the angel." She gathered herself and backed up to exit. Before leaving, Sue laid her eyes gently on Taystee's. "Her girl gonna wanna know." She looked back at the floor and smiled sincerely before making her way to her own part of Lichtfield.

Taystee gave the girl a weird smirk when she left and shrugged her shoulders. Black Cindy and Poussey looked from across the way, wondering what had gone down. She was just leaving her bunk to tell them when the light came on. Taystee backed up to set herself in front of the exit as the guards came through with their clickers. She looked at the spot beside her, where Piper would usually stand, knowing now that something really was wrong.

Twenty minutes later, the lights of the 'Ghetto' dorm turned on and everyone arose to see what was going on. The prison nurse and doctor, along with guards Bennett and Fischer, were rushing Chapman in a stretcher through the dorm. There was blood everywhere, all over Piper and dripping from the stretcher in a path through the main walkway. Apparently, whatever happened had taken place closest to their dorm.

Taystee's eyes went wide when she saw the wooden shiv still planted in her roomate's chest. She immediately grabbed some maxi pads from her bunk locker and started to clean up the path of blood on the floor.

Bennett saw this and held back for a moment. "Thank you, inmate,..." He was looking for a name, but couldn't recall it in the moment."

"Don't matter what my name is." She looked across the way to Poussey and Black Cindy. "We'll take care of this."

"Thank you." Bennett said before starting to walk away.

"Wait, officer." Taystee stood up. "I know this isn't exactly allowed or anything, but is there a way to get a message to Piper's friend. She, uh - she'd want to know."

Bennett looked around and landed his eyes back onto the woman in front of him. "There won't be many guards around right now because we are all tending to this - night shift and everything, not many guards on duty, but tomorrow is another story. I think you will be okay if you wanted to get the message to her. Just be careful and I will keep a lookout."

"Thank you, sir." Taystee smiled.

An hour later, after everything had been cleaned up, Poussey was weaving her way through the dorm and had finally landed herself in the 'suburbs' of Lichtfield. Bennett had made good on his word and had Fischer placed, somehow, on duty in this dorm. She smiled stoicly as Poussey sweeped herself softly by her and into Alex's bunk.

It was apparent that no one in this part of the prison knew what was going on. The lights were out and everyone was asleep. Poussey paid no mind to Vause's bunkmate and quickly knelt beside the brunette. She nudged her softly ane whispered. "Hey, Vause."

Alex hummed and turned over toward the girl.

"Yo, Vause. Wake up, yo."

The brunette stirred before opening her eyes. "What the fuck," She looked around before meeting the eyes in the girl in front of her. She grabbed her glasses and placed them on her nose with a sleepy gaze. "What the-"

Poussey cut her off. "I don't have a lot of time," She looked up and around the walls of the bunk before kneeling back down to Alex. "Chapman got shanked tonight. Stomach, chest - everywhere. Blood all over our dorm, yo."

The brunette shot up on her elbows. "What!?"

"Shhshh, girl. I ain't supposed to be here. You gonna get us in trouble. She's not good. Guards and doctors are taking her to the hospital I think. Taystee sent me, she thought you would want to know."

Alex shook her head. "Oh my God."

Poussey gave her a pat on the hand. "I gotta go girl." She exited as quickly as she had come, leaving Vause in her bed without anything to say back.

The brunette laid her head back down on her pillow as tears began to creep into the corners of her eyes. Ten minutes ago, she had wanted nothing to do with the blonde, ever again. Now, she was paralyzed with worry.

As she shuffled her arms under the pillow beneathe her, she suddenly felt something. She pulled out a small, modestly wrapped gift. Settling herself on her back, she began to unwrap the package vigorously until she unveiled a small piece of cardboard adorned with a picture of she and Piper on a beach in Cabo. And at the bottom was a quote,

_"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years."_

"Oh, Pipes." Alex whispered to herself before clutching the card close to her chest. Alex knew she couldn't sleep, but she would hold the small, modest gift that the love of her life had given her as close as she could because that is all that she had right now.


	2. Doggett, You in Trouble Girl

"Rise and shine, ladies!" Fischer called out apologetically.

The lights in the suburb dorm popped on just moments after as the inmates shuffled sleepily to their spots to be counted. Only, the clickers never came. Instead, Fig and Caputo - looking seriously out of place in the halls of the prison - were coming to greet the girls, first-hand.

Nicky noticed the clock above the CO's station, which was empty. 3:20 a.m. Something was up. The blonde glanced two bunks over to Alex, only to find her staring down to the ground with a blank look on her face.

"Get your flips on, girls. Or boots, whatever." Fig call out in her usual, annoying voice. "Everyone in the cafeteria, now." She emphasized the last word just enough to not catch any protest from the sleepy women before her.

Without another word. She and Caputo left as CO's Fischer and Bennett began to escort the inmates through the halls.

Nichols caught up with Alex in line. "What's going on, Vause?"

The brunette shook her head and wiped fresh tears away from her eyelids. "I don't know. I mean, I think-," she paused. "Christ, Nicky-" she stopped to say more, but Bennett hushed them to keep the line moving.

When the suburb block arrived in the cafeteria, they found that the entire inmate population was being filed in as well. Once everyone was settled and semi-quiet, Caputo spoke up.

"Ladies," he spoke as if he didn't want to be there. "I'm sure you all would love to be in your bunks getting your beauty sleep-"

Some 'hmmm hmmms' and 'amens' were mumbled around the room.

"Unfortunately, however," he spoke a little louder. "I must bring it to your attention that one of your fellow inmates was found earlier tonight in the courtyard. Stabbed. Almost to death."

For once, Lichtfield was silent.

"She has been sent to the hospital. Look around, you can figure out who it is."

Once everyone took in their surroundings and figured out that it was Piper that was absent, eyes began to fall slowly, but surely onto Doggett.

Fig stepped in and spoke in her normal authoritative, flat voice. Yet, at this hour and under these circumstances, she seemed unusually genuine with her words.

"If anyone has any information about what may have happened earlier or knows someone who may have seen something - anything - please report immediately to Mr. Caputo's office.

She paused to uncross her legs and stand up from the table she had been sitting upon. " To most of you, I'm a bitch, I know. But this is serious and I intend to get to the bottom of what happened tonight."

With that, she and Caputo exited the cafeteria quietly, leaving the rest of the room to their looks and gazes amongst one another.

"You heard the lady, inmates," Luschek spoke up. "Got information? Go upstairs. If not, back to your bunks."

* * *

Larry, Polly, and Piper's parents had been in the waiting room of the ER for hours, patiently awaiting to hear something from the doctors working on their loved one.

Polly's phone had rung at a little after two in the morning. It had been Larry, already in the car with Piper's parents, sending word of the attack on her best friend. She had dropped the phone immediately and was in her car on the way in minutes.

And now, the four of them found themselves resting on one another's worry, waiting. And waiting.

Larry was bouncing his knees and elbows together when a young doctor emerged into the waiting room. He stood up quickly to meet the surgeon halfway as the other three followed close behind.

They bombarded the doctor immediately with questions.

"She's going to be okay." Dr. Hunt had enough practice with this part of the job to know that was the right thing to say when he could to calm people down.

Polly and company took a seat in the waiting room with the ginger-haired doctor at his request.

"She lost a lot of blood, but what needed to has been replaced." He turned to what he suspected to be Piper's parents and continued.

"Your daughter was stabbed in six places,"

Larry gasped and cupped his mouth but the doctor cut him off to offer reassurance. "-most of which were not life threatening."

He spoke between the four of him, explaining in simple terms the injuries Piper had suffered.

"-My only concern was the most serious wound, which was to her chest. Her left was punctured, but we have patched that up quite nicely. Ms. Chapman is on antibiotics - just in case - and is currently in recovery. She will be here for at least a week."

"Can we see her?" Larry and Polly asked almost simultaneously.

"Not tonight." The surgeon said sympathetically. "Go home, get some rest and come back in the morning. She's in good hands, I promise."

* * *

Alex was sick to her stomach, literally. After retrieving back to her bunk, she only lasted minutes before rushing to the bathroom to expel everything she had eaten that day. And after all of that was up, she found herself dry-heaving to the point of tears.

The guards were being unusually lenient with the normally well-behaved inmates tonight, giving everything that was going on. Everyone was restless and most were unable to get back to bed. Nicky took advantage of the situation and made a trip to the stalls, guessing that is where her friend had disappeared to.

She walked in on something she never thought she'd see - a vulnerable Alex Vause. Nicky immediately grabbed and held her from behind, stroking her hair. "Get it out, girl. Get it out."

After about a half an hour of coughing up bile without saying anything, Alex finally sat down on the floor and leaned against the stall door.

"I was so mean to her, Nicky."

"Rightfully so."

Alex gave the blonde a questionable look. "You don't under-"

"Don't get me wrong, Vause. I dig Chapman, I lot of us do. We got respect for the broad. But you can't beat yourself up over how you felt about her before this shit went down."

Nicky was close enough. Alex repositioned her glasses to the top of her head before retrieving a handful of toilet paper to wipe her nose.

"You know, they are up there with people. With us." Alex laughed angrily. "We all know who did this, what happened. But there's no way to prove it."

"I know." Nichols consoled.

"I didn't even bother going up there. There's nothing they can do, unless someone literally saw something."

"Well someone did, didn't they?" The blonde said coyly. Nicky wasn't an idiot.

"What do you mean?"

"Dude, you knew something was up before they told us what happened. I saw you, looking all down at the floor with those mopey eyes when they did lights on."

"Poussey came to tell me Piper was hurt."

"Okay, well how did she know?"

"She was pulled through their dorm. Doesn't mean anyone saw anything. God, Nicky. What if she isn't okay?" Alex rested her head on her knees and began to cry again.

One thing Nichols was sure of. Doggett was going to pay for this. Somehow, some way - she was going to pay.


	3. Showdown

The next morning, Caputo and Fig were no closer to finding Piper's attacker had they been the night before. It was unnerving for the warden's assistant, mostly due to the countless scandals following up to this that she had managed to cover up. her job was becoming harder by the minute and frankly, she was getting really tired of the inmates causing her nothing but trouble.

Still, she knew this was serious. An almost-deadly attack on an inmate wasn't something to joke about. It wasn't taboo prisoner-CO sex or illegal contraband being smuggled in. This wasn't something that she could just make disappear. Hospital records and amulance logs were tangible, undeniable proof of something gone wrong in her warden's prison.

But all of the testimonies and stories and theories she had heard last night weren't enough to prove anything. "Fuck." She muttered as she wisped her hand through her long locks. Fig rose from her desk and made her way to the coffee machine outside of Caputo's office.

The vending wouldn't work and she took this as a sign that she needed to get some much-needed rest. She popped her head into the room next door, where Caputo had resigned the night before.

"I'm going to get a little rest in your office if that's okay." She said to the balding man, seated at a make-shift desk. He nodded politely, as if to silently say that he needed the same.

By lunch, the inmates still had no word on Piper's condition. Even those that didn't know her were on the lookout for any information. In the little time the blonde had been in Lichtfield, she had made a decent reputation for herself - enough for those in the bunks to care. That was something to be said amongst these women.

After the last of the lunch trays had been handed out, Red approached Nicky's normal table and sat down. Morello, Sister, Jones, and Bersette were with the blonde.

"How's Alex holding up?" Red asked as she placed a hand on Nichols's shoulder for comfort.

"Like shit. In her bunk, not eating" Nicky puched her food away from her. "This is such bullshit."

"I know." Jones agreed.

"Look, we all know who did this." Bersette said as she finished up the last of her juice. "And we may not know how Chapman is doing, but we are going to make this right. Somehow."

Red nodded. "Vell, I've talked to immigration and they are not feeding ze beech." She smiled, referring to Doggett. She looked over her shoulder to the browned-teeth girl and grinned. "But that is not enough, as far as I'm concerned."

Taystee sat down with the girls from the suburbs, having been one of the last to receive her lunch.

"This shit fucked up." She said with a whisper. "But look, Imma tell ya'll something. I like Chapman, she's a good girl. And Crazy Eyes came to me last night. She saw everything, yo. Healey let it happen."

"What?!" Red said softly. "What zoo you mean?"

"She saw it all. Healey let Tiffany out there and watched it all happen. She told Fig, but there's no way to prove it. This shit is whack. I gotta go, ya'll, but we on your girl's side. She's one of us too down there in the ghetto. You need something, let us know." Taystee got up as quietly as she has come and made her way to go sit with her friends.

"So, it seems that ve have two problems." Red said confidently before taking the last sip of her coffee. "And both, ve shall fix."

"Amen." Sister agreed deviously.

Piper took turns with visitors for the next two days, only being able to spend time for minutes here and there due to the tube in her throat and the medication that was keeping her sedated. But on the third day, the mechanics had been removed and painkillers reduced, allowing for more interaction with her visitors. On this day, Polly had been the first.

"Hey Pol," Piper managed with a hoarse voice.

"Hey you. You look better." The brunette took a seat in the chair next to her friend's bed. "God Piper, we were so worried about you."

The blonde smiled softly. "I've been worried about me too. Where's Larry?"

"Some radio thing." Polly waved her hands nonchalantly. "Oh, and your parents went to go pick up Cal to he could come see you so they will be here this evening. I didn't want you to be alone to day, so here I am."

"Thanks. I miss you. I miss everyone, but I feel like I've missed so much with you."

Polly smiled. "Welllll, I was hoping you'd feel that way. I brought someone to see you." Polly's husband came in seconds later, toting a small baby in his arms.

"Hey Piper," He said, handing his son off to his wife before taking a seat in the back corner.

"This is Wheeler." She said, handing her small baby to Piper.

When the blonde went to cup him in her arms, she realized her hands were cuffed to the bed. She frowned with embarrassment. "This isn't how out first meet was supposed to go."

"No, maybe not. But we will make do." Polly swaddled him in a blanket she had brought and placed him on Piper's chest.

"Seriously, you named your son Wheeler?" Piper asked.

"Hey. No judgement. You're a convicted criminal chained to a hospital bed."

Red and the others had wasted no time peeling away at Healey. With Fig and Caputo making no headway in anything, she had decided to expedite the counselor's inevitable exit from Litchfield. Being the 'mentor' for the D Block, nearly everyone in the dorm had gone to Fig to complain about him, per Taystee's request. To top it off, Red used her knowledge of Daya's forbidden pregnancy to 'persuade' Bennett into admitting that he had seen Healey allow the attack on Chapman to happen.

In the end, it still wasn't enough, according to Fig. When Alex learned of this, she took the forst moment she got to pay the elder brunette a visit to her temporary office upstairs.

"Oh, Miss Vause. Please come in."

Alex slammed the door behind her. "How many people have come to you with, who we all know, attacked Piper?!"

"I know how you feel and I-"

"No you don't," Alex was livid. 'Yes, we all did bad shit and made bad choices. But in here, we have to survive. And just because Piper did something not all that bad a long time ago doesn't mean she deserved to be left for dead. Hell, we don't even know how she is doing. I don't even know if my best friend is even alive. It's been two days and we don't-"

"Miss-"

"No. Don't talk. I will take a few weeks in solitary for this, but you need to listen to me. I know for a FACT that almost all of Healey's inmates have complained about him. He has made all of their lives - especially Piper's - a living hell. You know this. And what? You can't do anything because you can't prove it?! What about the people who came to you about Tiffany's issue with Piper, huh? You know what, don't worry about that meth head - we will take care of her. But you are the warden's assistant. You are above everyone here. So why is it that you can't do shit about any of this?!"

"What do you want me to do, Miss Vause?" Fig sat back in her chair, a little impressed with the brunette's boldness.

"We all know you hate Healey and you know all of us think he is responsible for this, so do something about it."

"It's not that easy."

"Oh no?" Alex spoke up. "Well let me ask you this. Why is there no way to prove what happened outside on the night of the pageant, hmm? Aren't restricted areas supposed to be monitored by camera?"

Fig rose her left eyebrow.

"Makes no sense, does it? Lemme guess, budget cuts." The brunette sat back in her chair, satisfied she had struck a nerve in the woman sitting in front of her.

Fig paused for a moment before speaking. "Between me and you, I have authorized many cuts around here - some good, some bad. But I never authorized that."

Alex matched her previously-raised brow. "Well then, I hope I have been of assistance to you then."

"That you have. I will look into this. Thank you."

Alex got up and made her way out of the office, shutting the door behind her quietly. She completating going back in to ask if anyone had heard anything about Piper's condition, but she figured something would have been said in the conversation they just had. Knowing nothing more now than when she had arrived earlier, the brunette began to cry her way slowly back down the stairs to her dorm.

Everyone was at dinner. Alex curled up in her bed and ran her fingers across the gift Piper had left her earlier in the week. Through her tears, she smiled softly knowing she had just done her part, somehow, in making everything right.


End file.
